Walk of shame: Moyes has to travel 60 yards next to the home supporters to the tunnel at Old Trafford

For the third time this season he navigated nervously the 60 or so yards which separate dugout and tunnel, that post-match walk is no stroll when the locals are howling their discontent.

Newcastle, like Everton three days previous, were deserved 1-0 winners on Saturday, bringing expiry to decades of subservience.

It leaves United in a perilous position, cut adrift in ninth and with their title hopes all but sunk.

The league crown, however, is perhaps the least of their concerns right now.

For as the above milestone alluded to, it was in 1982 that a season last drew to its close with United having taken part in domestic competition only (note: English clubs were banned from Europe between 1985 and 1990).

On current evidence, their best chance of renewing their membership of next season’s Champions League will be to lift this year’s trophy in Lisbon come May.

For there ARE four better teams than United in the English top flight; indeed, five have beaten them already this term.

Their current residence in ninth would not even qualify them for the Europa League.

The noises from the boardroom bullishly declare that, financially, they could absorb such failure.But
it is the lure of the club which would take the biggest beating, for
they struggled to attract the game’s top talent last summer even with
their brochure decidedly rosier.

Moyes’
position has been called into question in some quarters in the wake of
their sorry slide to mid-table, were they to remain in that domain then
it would leave the United hierarchy with a dilemma not faced in those
parts since the early Nineties – sack or back?

Sack or back? Alex Ferguson, pictured in the United dugout against Pecsi Munkas in 1990, could have been given the boot

Muddled: A banner at Old Trafford labels Moyes as 'The Chosen One' but the boss is struggling

The Scot, at present, cuts a somewhat muddled man.

He is evidently unsure of his favoured personnel, seven changes against Newcastle bear testament to that.

He rejects any notion of Robin van Persie’s unrest but at the same time appears uneasy at mention of his name.

He insists that ‘excuses will not be made’ but, before a ball had even been kicked, moaned of the early-season fixtures put before him.

He feared a rough introduction. It has, however, as he put himself, been far worse than anticipated.‘I don’t think they (the fans), or me, expected us to have lost five games at this stage of the season,’ he offered in the wake of Saturday’s defeat.

No chance! Moyes has rejected any talk of Robin van Persie leaving the club

One observer put afterwards, ‘three of their next four are away as well!’.

That, though, could well be a blessing.

For Old Trafford is not the feared fortress of old. If anything, it is the hosts burdened by trepidation.

Against Newcastle, the likes of Tom Cleverley and Phil Jones cast a pale imitation of those who have previously populated United’s midfield.

Flop with a mop: Summer signing Marouane Fellaini sat on the bench during the weekend defeat

And that – the absence of leaders – was all too apparent on Saturday.

Van Persie sulked and slumbered through 90 minutes, Javier Hernandez strengthened the opinion that he is best deployed as a substitute, Cleverley and Jones were outwitted and outfought by Chiek Tiote and Yohan Cabaye, while Nani, once considered the heir apparent to Cristiano Ronaldo, is so far removed from his Portuguese compatriot that comparison is now redundant.

Sat in the stands was Marouane Fellaini, the flop with a mop. After the game, Moyes baulked at the suggestion that he had changed too much since inheriting the champions, citing the Belgian as his sole acquisition.